Recently the Pennsylvania House Majority Policy Committee and House Minority Policy Committee hosted a bipartisan hearing in Philadelphia to discuss the state of the life sciences industry, establishing policies and looking at ways of increasing the state’s competitiveness in the field.

Each year, June in the state Capitol is a time for negotiations between the majority and minority parties, along with the governor. They discuss where to spend money, where to cut and what to tax — if anything. The rest of the summer often is the time when people are looking at the spending plan that passed and keeping score. Who won and who lost?

The life sciences industry has had a strong presence in Pennsylvania for decades with thousands of companies settling here to develop pharmaceuticals, conduct groundbreaking research and engineer medical devices that are changing the world we live in for the better.
The state consistently ranks among the top tier nationwide in key measures of bioscience research, development and innovation, including in academic R&D, NIH research funding and venture capital investments.
The numbers speak loudly.

As Pennsylvania continues to grow as a major energy producer, energy infrastructure and value-added industries must keep pace to retain the hugely valuable commodities this state produces instead of setting their sites on the Gulf Coast, which already has a well-trained workforce and is home to one of the largest petrochemical industrial complexes in the world.